Surrounding area monitoring apparatus, surrounding area monitoring system and surrounding area monitoring method

ABSTRACT

A surrounding area monitoring apparatus receives visual field information about a driver of a surrounding vehicle of a self vehicle, and decides whether the self vehicle is outside the visual field of the surrounding vehicle or not in accordance with the visual field information. Accordingly, it can learn the present dynamic visual field range of the driver of the surrounding vehicle actually traveling around the self vehicle, and obtain more accurate visual field range. Thus, it can appropriately give information that is really necessary and suppress giving unnecessary information.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/110,304, filed on Jul. 7, 2016, in the U.S. Patent and TrademarkOffice, which is a National Stage of International Application No.PCT/JP2014/061996, filed on Apr. 30, 2014, the contents of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a surrounding area monitoringapparatus, a surrounding area monitoring system and a surrounding areamonitoring method, which monitor a surrounding area of a vehicle such asa car, and give information about it to its driver.

BACKGROUND ART

As a technique of detecting conditions around a self vehicle and givinginformation to a user in the vehicle like a car, a Patent Document 1,for example, proposes an apparatus that detects the vehicle model of asurrounding vehicle with a radar or camera, supposes an area outside thevisual field of the vehicle model from the information about the vehiclemodel, and informs, when the self vehicle is outside the visual field ofthe surrounding vehicle, the driver of that.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT Patent Document Patent Document 1: Japanese PatentLaid-Open No. 2009-187424. Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-OpenNo. 224637/1990. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved bythe Invention

However, since the conventional apparatus as shown in the PatentDocument 1, for example, fixes the blind spot according to a vehiclemodel regardless of whether the driver actually checks the direction ornot, even when the self vehicle decides that it is within the visualfield of the surrounding vehicle, there are some cases where the driverof the surrounding vehicle does not look into the direction where theself vehicle is present. In such a case, a problem arises of beingunable to give a warning to the driver of the self vehicle even thoughthe self vehicle is traveling outside the visual field of thesurrounding vehicle.

On the contrary, even when the self vehicle decides that it is outsidethe visual field of the surrounding vehicle, if the driver of thesurrounding vehicle looks into the direction in which the self vehicleis present in a side mirror or the like, it offers a problem in thateven though the self vehicle is traveling within the visual field of thesurrounding vehicle, it gives a warning to the driver.

The present invention is implemented to solve the foregoing problems.Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide asurrounding area monitoring apparatus, surrounding area monitoringsystem and surrounding area monitoring method, which monitor thesurroundings of a vehicle like a car, and give information to its driveronly when the vehicle is really outside the visual field of the driverof the surrounding vehicle.

Means for Solving the Problems

To accomplish the object, according to the present invention, asurrounding area monitoring apparatus is provided which is mounted in aself vehicle to which a notification device that gives information to adriver of the self vehicle is connected, the surrounding area monitoringapparatus comprising: a vehicle position acquirer to acquire positionalinformation of the self vehicle; a line-of-sight acquirer to acquireline-of-sight information about the driver of the self vehicle; a visualfield calculator to calculate a dynamic visual field range of the driverof the self vehicle in accordance with the line-of-sight informationacquired by the line-of-sight acquirer; a communicator to transmit thepositional information of the self vehicle acquired by the vehicleposition acquirer and the dynamic visual field range of the driver ofthe self vehicle calculated by the visual field calculator to anothervehicle around the self vehicle, and to receive the positionalinformation of said another vehicle and a dynamic visual field range ofa driver of said another vehicle; a decider to decide whether the selfvehicle is outside the dynamic visual field range of the driver of saidanother vehicle or not from the positional information of the selfvehicle acquired by the vehicle position acquirer and from thepositional information of said another vehicle and the dynamic visualfield range of the driver of said another vehicle, which are receivedfrom the communicator; and a notification controller to instruct thenotification device to output notification information when the deciderdecides that the self vehicle is outside the dynamic visual field rangeof the driver of said another vehicle.

Advantages of the Invention

According to the surrounding area monitoring apparatus in accordancewith the present invention, it is configured in such a manner that itreceives the visual field information of the driver of the surroundingvehicle of the self vehicle, and decides whether the self vehicle isoutside the visual field of the surrounding vehicle or not in accordancewith the visual field information. Thus, it can recognize the currentdynamic visual field range of the driver of the surrounding vehicleactually traveling around the self vehicle, and obtain the more accuratevisual field range. Accordingly, it can notify the driver of the reallynecessary information appropriately and can reduce giving unnecessaryinformation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a surrounding area monitoringapparatus of an embodiment 1 and an example of peripheral devicesconnected thereto;

FIG. 2 is a table showing an example of a visual field table thatrelates a vehicle model with a line-of-sight direction;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the visual fieldcomputing unit of the surrounding area monitoring apparatus of theembodiment 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a range of a visual field α1 retained in thevisual field computing unit;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a range of a visual field β1 retained in thevisual field computing unit;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a range of a visual field γ1 retained in thevisual field computing unit;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a range of a visual field δ1 retained in thevisual field computing unit;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a range of the current dynamic visual field(composite visual field) of the driver calculated and combined by thevisual field computing unit in the embodiment 1;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the deciding unit in thesurrounding area monitoring apparatus of the embodiment 1;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the notificationcontroller in the surrounding area monitoring apparatus of theembodiment 1;

FIG. 11 is a table showing an example of notification patterns thatrelate collision possibility with notification methods of notificationinformation through an HMI in the embodiment 1;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a surrounding area monitoringapparatus of an embodiment 2 and an example of peripheral devicesconnected thereto;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the deciding unit in thesurrounding area monitoring apparatus of the embodiment 2;

FIGS. 14A and 14B are diagrams showing visual field information about asurrounding vehicle A calculated by the deciding unit in the embodiment2 and a positional relationship between the surrounding vehicle A andthe self vehicle;

FIGS. 15A and 15B are diagrams showing visual field information about asurrounding vehicle B calculated by the deciding unit in the embodiment2 and a positional relationship between the surrounding vehicle B andthe self vehicle;

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing, centering on the self vehicle, visualfield information about the surrounding vehicles A and B combined by thedeciding unit in the embodiment 2;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing the operation of the notificationcontroller in the surrounding area monitoring apparatus of theembodiment 2;

FIGS. 18A and 18B are diagrams showing a display example of anotification pattern in the embodiment 2;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing a surrounding area monitoringapparatus of an embodiment 3 and an example of peripheral devicesconnected thereto;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing the operation of the visual fieldcomputing unit of the surrounding area monitoring apparatus of theembodiment 3; and

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing the operation of the deciding unit in thesurrounding area monitoring apparatus of the embodiment 3.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The best mode for carrying out the invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

A surrounding area monitoring apparatus in accordance with the presentinvention is one that receives visual field information about a driverof a surrounding vehicle of a self vehicle, decides whether the selfvehicle is outside the visual field of the surrounding vehicle or not inaccordance with the information, and gives notification information suchas an alarm and guidance. Incidentally, in the following embodiments, asurrounding area monitoring apparatus in accordance with the presentinvention can be built into an onboard device mounted in a vehicle likea car, such as onboard equipment like a car navigation system anddashboard, or can be applied to a server. In addition, it is applicableto an application installed into a mobile data terminal such as asmartphone, tablet PC and cellular phone.

Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a surrounding area monitoringapparatus of an embodiment 1 and an example of peripheral devicesconnected thereto. The surrounding area monitoring apparatus 1 mountedin a vehicle such as a car comprises a line-of-sight acquiring unit 101,a vehicle model information acquiring unit 102, a visual field computingunit 103, a vehicle position acquiring unit 104, a communication unit105, a deciding unit 107 and a notification controller 108.

In addition, an in-vehicle camera 2, a GPS (Global Positioning System)3, an intervehicle communication antenna 4 and an HMI (Human MachineInterface) 5 are connected as peripheral devices of the surrounding areamonitoring apparatus 1. Incidentally, it is supposed here that all thevehicles have the surrounding area monitoring apparatus 1 and theperipheral devices connected thereto, which are mounted on the vehicle.

The line-of-sight acquiring unit 101 receives an image the in-vehiclecamera 2 outputs, and acquires from the image the line-of-sightinformation about the driver of the self vehicle (direction of theline-of-sight and positional information of the driver's eyes).Incidentally, the in-vehicle camera 2 is installed in such a manner asto look in the interior of the vehicle so as to take its driver's face.In addition, as for a detection method of the line-of-sight, since awell-known technique such as described in the Patent Document 2 can beused, the description thereof is omitted here.

The vehicle model information acquiring unit 102 acquires informationabout the vehicle model of the self vehicle (vehicle model information)from the outside of the surrounding area monitoring apparatus 1 using acommunication interface such as CAN (Controller Area Network).

The visual field computing unit 103 calculates a dynamic visual fieldrange of the driver of the self vehicle from the vehicle modelinformation about the self vehicle acquired by the vehicle modelinformation acquiring unit 102, and from the line-of-sight information(line-of-sight direction and positional information of the eyes) of thedriver of the self vehicle acquired by the line-of-sight acquiring unit101. The visual field can be calculated by referring to a visual fieldtable as shown in FIG. 2, for example, which relates a vehicle modelwith line-of-sight directions.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a visual field table whichrelates a vehicle model with line-of-sight directions. The visual fieldcomputing unit 103 retains the visual field table as shown in FIG. 2,which stores various data resulting from relating the manufacturer andvehicle model of a vehicle with visual fields when the line-of-sightdirection is toward a rearview mirror, with a visual field when it isdirected toward the left side mirror, with a visual field when it isdirected in a forward direction, with a visual field when it is directedtoward the left, with a visual field when it is directed toward theright side mirror (not shown in the table of FIG. 2), with a visualfield when it is directed toward the right (also not shown in the tableof FIG. 2) and so on.

Then, the visual field computing unit 103 calculates the dynamiccomposite visual field range of the driver by combining the visual fieldit calculates and the visual field within a past specified time (T1)which is determined in advance. Details of the processing by the visualfield computing unit 103 will be described later with reference to theflowchart shown in FIG. 3.

The vehicle position acquiring unit 104 acquires positional (latitudeand longitude) information of the self vehicle in accordance with theinformation of the GPS 3.

The communication unit 105 transmits the positional information of theself vehicle acquired by the vehicle position acquiring unit 104together with the dynamic composite visual field range of the driver ofthe self vehicle calculated by the visual field computing unit 103 toanother vehicle around the self vehicle via the intervehiclecommunication antenna 4, and receives via the intervehicle communicationantenna 4 the positional information (latitude and longitude) of anothervehicle and a dynamic visual field range of a driver of another vehicle,which are transmitted by the another vehicle around the self vehicle.

The deciding unit 107 decides whether the self vehicle is outside thedynamic visual field range of the driver of a surrounding vehicle(another vehicle) or not according to the positional information(latitude and longitude) acquired by the vehicle position acquiring unit104, the positional information (latitude and longitude) of thesurrounding vehicle (another vehicle) received by the communication unit105, and the dynamic visual field range of the driver of the surroundingvehicle (another vehicle).

Then, when the deciding unit 107 decides that the self vehicle isoutside the dynamic visual field range of the driver of the surroundingvehicle (another vehicle), it outputs the collision possibility betweenthe self vehicle and the another vehicle, which is a result of thedecision of the deciding unit 107, to the notification controller 108.Details of the processing by the deciding unit 107 will be describedlater with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 9.

When the notification controller 108 receives the output of the decidingunit 107, that is, when the deciding unit 107 decides that the selfvehicle is outside the dynamic visual field range of the driver of thesurrounding vehicle (another vehicle), the notification controller 108instructs the HMI 5 to output notification information such as an alarm.Here the HMI 5 is a notification device that gives information to thedriver of the self vehicle, such as a voice output device like a speakerand a display device like a display and an icon.

At this time, the notification controller 108 instructs the HMI 5, thenotification device, to output the notification information after anelapse of a predetermined specified time (T2) after the deciding unit107 decides that the self vehicle is outside the dynamic visual fieldrange of the driver of the surrounding vehicle (another vehicle).

A concrete notification method for giving information to the driver ofthe self vehicle will be described with reference to the table shown inFIG. 11.

Next, referring to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the operation of thevisual field computing unit 103 in the surrounding area monitoringapparatus of the embodiment 1 will be described.

First, the visual field computing unit 103 acquires the driver'sline-of-sight and driver's eye position from the line-of-sight acquiringunit 101 (step ST1). Next, it acquires the vehicle model informationabout the self vehicle from the vehicle model information acquiring unit102 (step ST2).

Then, the visual field computing unit 103 calculates the visual field ofthe driver by referring to the visual field table which relates thevehicle model with the line-of-sight directions as shown in FIG. 2, forexample (step ST3).

For example, if the vehicle model information about the self vehicleacquired at step ST2 is vehicle model A1 of a manufacturer A and if theline-of-sight direction acquired at step ST1 is the rearview mirror, thevisual field computing unit 103 can calculate that the current visualfield is “α1” by referring to the visual field table shown in FIG. 2.

Incidentally, the visual field computing unit 103 also stores in advanceranges the visual fields αl-α6, β1-β6, γ1-γ6 and δ1-δ6 shown in FIG. 2designate. FIG. 4-FIG. 7 are diagrams showing the ranges of the visualfields α1, β1, γ1, and δ1 retained in the visual field computing unit103, respectively.

More specifically, the visual field “α1” calculated at step ST3 consistsof ranges (0,1) (−1,2) (0,2) (1,2) (−2,3) (−1,3) (0,3) (1,3) (2,3) asshown in FIG. 4. Incidentally, X of (X,Y) shown here is plus on theright side with respect to the forward direction of the vehicle (seenfrom the driver) and is minus on the left side, and Y is plus toward therear of the vehicle and is minus toward the front of it.

Thus, the visual field computing unit 103 records the visual field itcalculates (step ST4). Then, if there is any visual field recordedwithin the preceding predetermined specified time (T1) (within the pastspecified time (T1)) (YES at step ST5), the visual field computing unit103 acquires visual fields of past several times recorded within thepast specified time (T1) (step ST6), combines them with the visual fieldit calculates at step ST3 (step ST7), and outputs to the communicationunit 105 (step ST8).

On the other hand, if there is not any visual field recorded within thepast specified time (T1) (NO at step ST5), the visual field computingunit 103 outputs the visual field it calculates at step ST3 to thecommunication unit 105 without adding any change (step ST8).

It is assumed here that the driver of the vehicle has already looked atthe left side mirror, at the front and left side within the pastspecified time (T1) in addition to the rearview mirror at the present.At this time, the visual field computing unit 103 calculates and recordsthe visual field each time at steps ST1-ST4 of the flowchart shown inFIG. 3.

More specifically, it records the range (−1,0) (−1,1) (−2,2) (−1,2)(−3,3) (−2,3) (−1,3) as the visual field β1 corresponding to the leftside mirror in the vehicle model A1 as shown in FIG. 5, records therange (−2,−3) (−1,−3) (0,−3) (1,−3) (2,−3) (−1,−2) (0,−2) (1,−2) (0,−1)as the visual field γ1 corresponding to the front as shown in FIG. 6,and records the range (−3,−2) (−3,−1) (−2,−1) (−1,0) (−2,1) (−3,2) asthe visual field δ1 corresponding to the left side as shown in FIG. 7.

Incidentally, as is seen from FIG. 7, as for the visual field δ1 whenthe line-of-sight direction is the left side, the visual field does notcontain (−3,0) (−2,0) (−3,1). This is because these parts are notvisible because they are concealed by a pillar of the self vehicle as tothe vehicle model A1.

Then, since the decision result whether there is any visual fieldrecorded within the past specified time (T1) or not is YES at step ST5,the visual field computing unit 103 acquires the visual fields of thepast several times recorded within the past specified time (T1), thatis, the three visual fields shown in FIG. 5-FIG. 7 (step ST6), andcombines them with the current visual field shown in FIG. 4 (step ST7)to obtain the composite visual field range as shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the current dynamic visual field of thedriver (composite visual field) calculated and combined by the visualfield computing unit 103. As shown in FIG. 8, the composite visual fieldof the visual fields recorded within the past specified time (T1)consists of (−2,−3) (−1,−3) (0,−3) (1,−3) (2,−3) (−3,−2) (−1,−2) (0,−2)(1,−2) (−3,−1) (−2,−1) (0,−1) (−1,0) (−2,1) (−1,1) (0,1) (1,1) (−3,2)(−2,2) (−1,2) (0,2) (1,2) (−3,3) (−2,3) (−1,3) (0,3) (1,3) (2,3), whichis output to the communication unit (step ST8).

In this way, when the visual field computing unit 103 calculates thevisual field range, it can obtain the more accurate visual field rangeby using the vehicle model information and the positional information ofthe driver's eyes because this enables the visual field computing unit103 to consider differences in the visual field ranges concealed by apillar depending on the differences in the vehicle models, anddifferences in the position of the driver's eyes among individuals.

Next, referring to the flowchart shown in FIG. 9, the operation of thedeciding unit 107 in the surrounding area monitoring apparatus of theembodiment 1 will be described.

First, the deciding unit 107 checks whether or not it is able to receivethe information about another vehicle from the communication unit 105via the intervehicle communication. Then, if it is able to receive theinformation about new another vehicle, that is, if there is any newreceived data (step ST11), the deciding unit 107 acquires the positionof the self vehicle from the vehicle position acquiring unit 104 (stepST12).

In addition, the deciding unit 107 acquires from the information aboutthe new another vehicle it receives the position of the another vehicleand the visual field information about its driver (step ST13). Then,according to the positional information of the self vehicle acquired atstep ST12 and the positional information of the another vehicle acquiredat step ST13, the deciding unit 107 calculates the relative positionbetween the self vehicle and the another vehicle (step ST14).

The deciding unit 107 checks from the relative position it calculateswhether the distance from the another vehicle to the self vehicle iswithin a predetermined specified range (distance) or not, that is,whether the another vehicle is at a position within the specified range(distance) from the self vehicle or not (step ST15). At this time, it isassumed that the predetermined specified range (distance) is set in sucha manner that it varies in accordance with the speed of the selfvehicle.

Then, if the deciding unit 107 decides that the position of the anothervehicle is outside the specified range (outside the distance) (NO atstep ST15), it decides that the another vehicle is so far that it doesnot exert any influence on a collision, and returns to step ST11 torepeat the processing.

On the other hand, if the position of the another vehicle is within thespecified range (within the distance) (YES at step ST15), the decidingunit 107 decides that the another vehicle is not far, that is, isanother vehicle around the self vehicle (surrounding vehicle),superimposes the visual field information about the another vehicleacquired at step ST13 on the relative position calculated at step ST14,and decides whether the self vehicle is outside the visual field aboutthe another vehicle (surrounding vehicle) or not (step ST16).

Then, if the deciding unit 107 decides that the self vehicle is outsidethe visual field of the surrounding vehicle (YES at step ST16), itincreases the collision possibility to be informed to the notificationcontroller 108 (step ST17). Incidentally, as for the collisionpossibility, it can be increased one by one, or a value to be addedthereto can be varied in accordance with the relative distance.

On the other hand, unless the self vehicle is outside the visual fieldof the surrounding vehicle, that is, if it is within the visual field ofthe surrounding vehicle (NO at step ST16), since the driver of thesurrounding vehicle watches the self vehicle without being notified, thedeciding unit 107 returns to step ST11 to repeat the processing.

For example, when there are two vehicles around the self vehicle (withinthe specified distance from the self vehicle), and if the self vehicleis outside the visual fields of the two vehicles, the collisionpossibility is 2, but if the self vehicle is outside the visual field ofone of the two vehicles, the collision possibility is 1.

Then, if the new received data is reduced to zero, that is, if the selfvehicle has received all the data of the other vehicles in the rangethat enables data exchange or there is no more surrounding vehicle (NOat step ST11), the deciding unit 107 outputs the collision possibilityto the notification controller 108 (step ST18), resets the collisionpossibility to 0 (zero), and terminates the processing.

Next, referring to the flowchart shown in FIG. 10, the operation of thenotification controller 108 in the surrounding area monitoring apparatusof the embodiment 1 will be described.

First, receiving the collision possibility information from the decidingunit 107 (YES at step ST21), the notification controller 108 checkswhether the collision possibility received is not less than apredetermined specified value or not (step ST22). It is assumed herethat “1” is set as the specified value.

Then, if the collision possibility is not less than the specified value(YES at step ST22), the notification controller 108 further checkswhether or not the self vehicle is outside the visual field of thesurrounding vehicle for not less than a predetermined specified time(T2) (step ST23). Although it is assumed here that T2=2 seconds, forexample, the value can be set properly by a user.

If the self vehicle is outside the visual field of the surroundingvehicle for not less than the specified time (T2=2 seconds) (YES at stepST23), the notification controller 108 outputs the notificationinformation corresponding to the collision possibility it received fromthe deciding unit 107 at step ST21 via the HMI 5 (step ST24).

In contrast, if the collision possibility is less than the specifiedvalue at step ST22 (NO at step ST22), or if the duration the selfvehicle is outside the visual field of the surrounding vehicle is lessthan the specified time (T2) at step ST23 (NO at step ST23), thenotification controller 108 terminates the processing promptly.

Thus, the notification controller 108 instructs to output thenotification information only when the specified time (T2) has elapsedafter the deciding unit 107 decides that the self vehicle is outside thedynamic visual field range of the driver of the surrounding vehicle,thereby being able to prevent the driver from feeling uncomfortablebecause of receiving the notification repeatedly in a short time, and tosuppress unnecessary notification.

FIG. 11 is a table showing an example of a notification pattern thatrelates the collision possibility and a notification method of thenotification information through the HMI.

FIG. 11 shows, as an example of the HMI 5 which is the notificationdevice for giving information to the driver, a case of outputting thenotification information by voice from a speaker, and a case ofoutputting the notification information by an icon display.

For example, a notification method of the notification information isset in such a manner that when the collision possibility is 0 (zero),the HMI 5 does not output voice from the speaker or does not perform theicon display; that when the collision possibility is 1, it causes thespeaker to output voice at a volume 1 with long intervals like pi-pi-,or the icon display to show a yellow, small-sized icon at intervals of 1Hz; and that when the collision possibility is 2, it causes the speakerto output voice at a volume 2 with short intervals like pipi, or theicon display to show a red, large-sized icon at intervals of 10 Hz.

Thus, by altering the intensity of the output of the notificationinformation in accordance with the collision possibility in such amanner as to enhance the output of the notification information when thecollision possibility is high and to weaken the output of thenotification information when the collision possibility is low, thenotification controller 108 enables the driver to easily recognize thelevel of the collision possibility in accordance with the intensity ofthe output of the notification information.

In this case, the notification controller 108 instructs the notificationdevice (HMI 5 like the speaker or icon) to alter the intensity of theoutput of the notification information in accordance with the collisionpossibility. Thus, when the intensity of the output of the notificationinformation is increased, the notification controller 108 instructs thenotification device to increase the volume of the voice, or to emphasizethe icon display.

This enables the driver to recognize the level of the collisionpossibility even when he or she faces forward. In addition, in the caseof the display, it offers an advantage of enabling the driver's eyes tofall on it and enabling the driver to become more readily aware of thepossibility of a collision.

Incidentally, as for the notification method as to whether theinformation is to be given by voice using the speaker, or by the icondisplay, or by both of them, a configuration is possible which enables auser to set it properly. In addition, it goes without saying that anotification method other than the voice or icon display can be used aswell.

For example, when the method is set which gives the information by boththe voice and icon display, and if the collision possibility it receivesfrom the deciding unit 107 is 2, the notification controller 108instructs the notification device (HMI 5 like the speaker and icon) tonotify the driver by outputting the sound “pipi” at volume 2 and bymaking the large-size, red icon display blinking at intervals of 10 Hz.

As described above, according to the present embodiment 1, it isconfigured in such a manner that it receives the visual fieldinformation about the driver of the surrounding vehicle of the selfvehicle, and decides whether the self vehicle is outside the visualfield of the surrounding vehicle or not in accordance with theinformation. Thus, it enables the driver of the self vehicle to find outthe current dynamic visual field range of the driver of the surroundingvehicle actually traveling around the self vehicle, and to obtain a moreaccurate visual field range. Accordingly, it can provide reallynecessary information appropriately, and can suppress unnecessarynotification information.

Incidentally, as for the surrounding area monitoring apparatus 1, it isapplied to a vehicle like a car with equipment mounted therein, and isimplemented as a concrete means which cooperates hardware with softwarethrough a microcomputer of the equipment, which executes programs ofspecified processing particular to the present invention. The same holdstrue for the following embodiments.

Embodiment 2

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an example of a surrounding areamonitoring apparatus of an embodiment 2 and peripheral devices connectedthereto. Incidentally, the same components as those described in theembodiment 1 are designated by the same reference numerals and theirredundant description will be omitted. The surrounding area monitoringapparatus 10 of the embodiment 2 described below differs from thesurrounding area monitoring apparatus 1 of the embodiment 1 in theprocessing contents of a deciding unit 117 and a notification controller118.

Although the surrounding area monitoring apparatus 1 of the embodiment 1decides whether the self vehicle is outside the visual field range ofanother vehicle (surrounding vehicle) or not, and gives information onlyabout the collision possibility, the surrounding area monitoringapparatus 10 of the embodiment 2 not only decides whether the selfvehicle is outside the visual field range of another vehicle(surrounding vehicle) or not, but also calculates and guides thedistance and direction the self vehicle should move to come into thevisual field of the surrounding vehicle.

The deciding unit 117 decides whether the self vehicle is outside thedynamic visual field range of a driver of a surrounding vehicle (anothervehicle) or not according to the positional information (latitude andlongitude) acquired by the vehicle position acquiring unit 104, thepositional information (latitude and longitude) of the surroundingvehicle (another vehicle) received by the communication unit 105, andthe dynamic visual field range of the driver of the surrounding vehicle(another vehicle), and when it decides that the self vehicle is outsidethe visual field range, it calculates the distance and direction up tothe position where the self vehicle comes into the visual field of thesurrounding vehicle, and outputs them to the notification controller118.

More specifically, the deciding unit 117 in the surrounding areamonitoring apparatus 10 of the embodiment 2 differs from the decidingunit 107 of the surrounding area monitoring apparatus 1 of theembodiment 1 in that it combines the positional information and thevisual field information of the surrounding vehicle received through thecommunication unit 105, and decides whether the self vehicle is outsidethe visual field range of the another vehicle (surrounding vehicle) ornot, and that when the self vehicle is outside the visual field range,it calculates the distance and direction up to the position where theself vehicle comes into the visual field of the surrounding vehicle, andoutputs them to the notification controller 118.

Details of the processing by the deciding unit 117 will be describedlater with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 13.

In addition, when the notification controller 118 receives the output ofthe deciding unit 117, that is, when a decision is made by the decidingunit 117 that the self vehicle is outside the dynamic visual field rangeof the driver of the surrounding vehicle (another vehicle), it instructsthe HMI 5, which is a notification device that gives information to thedriver of the self vehicle, such as the voice output device like aspeaker and a display device like a display and an icon, to output thenotification information that guides the self vehicle into the dynamicvisual field range of the driver of the surrounding vehicle (anothervehicle).

At this time, when the predetermined specified time (T2) has elapsedafter the deciding unit 117 decides that the self vehicle is outside thedynamic visual field range of the driver of the surrounding vehicle(another vehicle), the notification controller 118 instructs the HMI 5,the notification device, to output the notification information.

As for a concrete notification method for giving information to thedriver of the self vehicle, it will be described later using a displayexample shown in FIGS. 18A and 18B.

Next, referring to the flowchart shown in FIG. 13, the operation of thedeciding unit 117 in the surrounding area monitoring apparatus 10 of theembodiment 2 will be described.

First, the deciding unit 117 checks whether or not it is able to receivethe information about another vehicle from the communication unit 105via the intervehicle communication. Then, if it is able to receive theinformation about new another vehicle, that is, if there is any newreceived data (step ST31), the deciding unit 117 acquires the positionof the self vehicle from the vehicle position acquiring unit 104 (stepST32).

In addition, the deciding unit 117 acquires from the information aboutthe new another vehicle it receives the position of the another vehicleand the visual field information about its driver (step ST33). Then,according to the positional information of the self vehicle acquired atstep ST32 and the positional information of the another vehicle acquiredat step ST33, the deciding unit 117 calculates the relative positionbetween the self vehicle and the another vehicle (step ST34).

The deciding unit 117 checks from the relative position it calculateswhether the distance from the another vehicle to the self vehicle iswithin a predetermined specified range (distance) or not, that is,whether the another vehicle is at a position within the specified range(distance) from the self vehicle or not (step ST35). At this time, it isassumed that the predetermined specified range (distance) is set in sucha manner that it varies in accordance with the speed of the selfvehicle.

Then, if the deciding unit 117 decides that the position of the anothervehicle is outside the specified range (outside the distance) (NO atstep ST35), it decides that the another vehicle is so far that it doesnot exert any influence on a collision, and returns to step ST31 torepeat the processing.

On the other hand, if the position of the another vehicle is within thespecified range (within the distance) (YES at step ST35), the decidingunit 117 decides that the another vehicle is not far, that is, isanother vehicle around the self vehicle (surrounding vehicle),calculates the visual field about the another vehicle (surroundingvehicle) around the self vehicle by offsetting the relative position itcalculates at step ST34 (step ST36), and returns to step ST31 to repeatthe processing.

For example, assume that the deciding unit 117 receives the visual fieldinformation as shown in FIG. 14A from the another vehicle (surroundingvehicle) A at step ST33. In this case, according to the positionalinformation of the self vehicle acquired at step ST32 and the positionalinformation of the another vehicle (surrounding vehicle) A acquired atstep ST33, the deciding unit 117 calculates that the relative positionof the self vehicle with respect to the another vehicle (surroundingvehicle) A is the position at +2 in the X direction from the anothervehicle (surrounding vehicle) A (step ST34).

As a result, the deciding unit 117 decides that the self vehicle and theanother vehicle (surrounding vehicle) A are within the specifieddistance (step ST35), and calculates the visual field information withthe self vehicle being placed at the center as shown in FIG. 14B byapplying an offset corresponding to the relative position to FIG. 14A(step ST36).

In addition, assume that the deciding unit 117 receives the visual fieldinformation as shown in FIG. 15A from another vehicle (surroundingvehicle) B. In this case, it executes similar processing to calculatethe visual field information with the self vehicle being placed at thecenter as shown in FIG. 15B by applying an offset corresponding to therelative position.

In this way, when new received data occurs (YES at step ST31), as aresult repeating the processing from step ST31 to ST36 of combining thedynamic visual field ranges of the drivers of other vehicles accordingto the dynamic visual field ranges of the plurality of the othervehicles, the deciding unit 117 can obtain the composite visual fieldinformation as shown in FIG. 16 that combines the dynamic visual fieldranges of the drivers of the plurality of vehicles with the self vehiclebeing placed at the center.

Then, if the new received data is reduced to zero, that is, if the selfvehicle has received all the data of the other vehicles in the rangethat enables data exchange or there is no more surrounding vehicle (NOat step ST31), the deciding unit 117 checks whether the self vehicle isoutside the visual field of the surrounding vehicle or not according tothe composite visual field information obtained previously (step ST37).

If the deciding unit 117 decides that the self vehicle is outside thevisual field of the surrounding vehicles (YES at step ST37), itcalculates the distance and direction up to the position where the selfvehicle comes into the visual field of the surrounding vehicles (stepST38), and outputs the distance and direction to the notificationcontroller 118 (step ST39).

On the other hand, if the deciding unit 117 does not decide that theself vehicle is outside the visual field of the surrounding vehicles (NOat step ST37), since the self vehicle is within the visual field of thesurrounding vehicles, the deciding unit 117 sets the distance to theposition that comes into the visual field at 0 (zero), and outputs thedistance and direction (step ST39).

Thus, the deciding unit 117 combines the dynamic visual field ranges ofthe drivers of the plurality of vehicles, thereby being able to providea more accurate dynamic visual field range. In addition, even when aplurality of vehicles are present around the self vehicle, it can decidewhether the self vehicle is placed in a blind spot of each of theplurality of vehicles or not.

Next, referring to the flowchart shown in FIG. 17, the operation of thenotification controller 118 in the surrounding area monitoring apparatus10 of the embodiment 2 will be described.

First, when the notification controller 118 receives the distance anddirection from the self vehicle to the visual field of the surroundingvehicles, which are the output information of the deciding unit 117 (YESat step ST41), it checks whether the received distance is greater than 0(zero) or not, that is, whether the self vehicle is outside the visualfield of the surrounding vehicle or not (step ST42).

Then, if the self vehicle is outside the visual field of the surroundingvehicles (YES at step ST42), the notification controller 118 checkswhether the self vehicle is outside the visual field of the surroundingvehicles for not less than the predetermined specified time (T2) or not(step ST43). Although it is assumed here that T2=2 seconds, for example,the value can be set properly by a user.

If the self vehicle is outside the visual field of the surroundingvehicles for not less than the specified time (T2=2 seconds) (YES atstep ST43), the notification controller 118 outputs via the HMI 5 theguidance on the distance and direction indicating the position to whichthe self vehicle has to move to come into the visual field of thesurrounding vehicles (step ST44).

In contrast, if the distance is 0 (zero) at step ST42, that is, if theself vehicle is within the visual field of the surrounding vehicles (NOat step ST42), or if the duration in which the self vehicle staysoutside the visual field of the surrounding vehicles is less than thespecified time (T2) at step ST43 (NO at step ST43), the notificationcontroller 118 terminates the processing immediately.

Thus, the notification controller 118 instructs to output thenotification information only when the specified time (T2) has elapsedafter the deciding unit 117 decides that the self vehicle is outside thedynamic visual field range of the driver of a surrounding vehicle,thereby being able to prevent the driver from feeling uncomfortablebecause of receiving the notification repeatedly in a short time, and tosuppress unnecessary notification.

FIGS. 18A and 18B are a diagram showing a display example of anotification pattern in the present embodiment 2.

In this example, as shown in FIG. 16, the self vehicle is outside thevisual field of both the surrounding vehicles A and B (YES at stepST37), and positions (0,−3) (0,−2) (1,−2) and (0,3) are within thevisual field range of both the surrounding vehicles A and B.

Among them, since the position closest to the self vehicle is (0,−2),the distance and direction that will bring the self vehicle into thevisual field of the surrounding vehicles A and B are calculated as −2 inthe Y direction, that is, the position shifted by 2 forward (step ST38).Incidentally, it is assumed here that one division in the Y direction isabout 5 meters.

Thus, the notification controller 118 can instruct the notificationdevice to guide the driver by blinking only a forward arrow of the icondisplay in red as shown in FIG. 18A, for example, or by indicating asshown in FIG. 18B the relative positional relationships between the selfvehicle and the surrounding vehicles A and B and by displaying a forwardarrow and a message “10 m ahead” as to the self vehicle.

Thus, the present embodiment 2 not only notifies that the self vehicleis outside the visual field of the surrounding vehicles, but also givesinformation to lead the self vehicle into the dynamic visual fieldrange. Accordingly, it can support the driver to drive more safely.

In addition, when outputting the notification information for guiding bythe icon display as shown in FIG. 18A, the driver can visually learn theroute more intuitively. Incidentally, in this case, a configuration isalso possible which alters the blinking period of the icon correspondingto the relevant direction, or changes its color in accordance with thedistance the deciding unit 117 outputs.

For example, when giving information that it should travel 10 m ahead,it blinks the icon at 10 Hz, when giving information that it shouldtravel 5 m ahead, it blinks the icon at 5 Hz, and when it comes into thevisual field, it turns off the icon. Alternatively, as for the color,when giving information that it should travel 10 m ahead, it can alterthe color to red, when giving information that it should travel 5 mahead, it can alter the color to yellow, and when it comes into thevisual field, it can alter the color to green.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 18B, when displaying the notificationinformation for guiding the self vehicle to the position indicated bythe distance and direction output from the deciding unit 117 togetherwith the positional information of the self vehicle and the positionalinformation of the surrounding vehicles (other vehicles) (whiledisplaying the relative positions between the self vehicle and the othervehicles), the driver can not only visually confirm the guidance, butalso visually and intuitively learn the positions and routes of theother vehicles and the self vehicle.

Furthermore, when outputting the notification information for guidanceby speech, it can inform the driver of the distance and direction byvoice by providing such a message as “drive 10 meters ahead” or “getover into the right lane” to the driver. Thus guiding the driver byvoice enables the driver to confirm the guidance while looking forward.

Incidentally, it goes without saying that it can give information to thedriver by a combination of the speech, icon display and display.

As described above, according to the present embodiment 2, it not onlyinforms the driver that the self vehicle is outside the visual field ofthe surrounding vehicles, but also gives information in such a manner asto guide the self vehicle into the dynamic visual field range. Thisoffers an advantage of being able to aid the driver in carrying out safedriving in addition to the advantages of the embodiment 1.

Embodiment 3

FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing an example of a surrounding areamonitoring apparatus of an embodiment 3 and peripheral devices connectedthereto. Incidentally, the same components as those described in theembodiments 1 and 2 are designated by the same reference numerals andtheir redundant description will be omitted. The surrounding areamonitoring apparatus 20 of the embodiment 3 described below differs fromthe surrounding area monitoring apparatus 10 of the embodiment 2 shownin FIG. 12 in that it further comprises a vehicle ID acquiring unit 201,and in the processing contents of the visual field computing unit 123,communication unit 125 and deciding unit 127.

In the surrounding area monitoring apparatus 1 or 10 of the embodiment 1or 2, although the visual field computing unit 103 calculates the visualfield of the driver, collects and combines the visual fields of severaltimes and supplies to the communication unit 105, in the presentembodiment 3, every time the visual field computing unit 123 calculatesthe visual field of the driver, it supplies it to the communication unit125 just as it is.

The vehicle ID acquiring unit 201 acquires the ID information unique tothe vehicle and supplies it to the communication unit 125.

According to the vehicle model information about the self vehicleacquired by the vehicle model information acquiring unit 102 and thedriver's line-of-sight information acquired by the line-of-sightacquiring unit 101, the visual field computing unit 123 calculates thedynamic visual field range of the driver of the self vehicle and outputsit to the communication unit 125.

The communication unit 125 collects the dynamic visual field range ofthe driver calculated by the visual field computing unit 123, thepositional information of the self vehicle acquired by the vehicleposition acquiring unit 104, and the vehicle ID acquired by the vehicleID acquiring unit 201, and transmits them to the surrounding vehicle viathe intervehicle communication antenna 4. In addition, the communicationunit 125 receives via the intervehicle communication antenna 4 thepositional information (latitude and longitude), the visual fieldinformation and the vehicle ID a surrounding vehicle of the self vehicletransmits.

Next, referring to the flowchart shown in FIG. 20, the operation of thevisual field computing unit 123 in the surrounding area monitoringapparatus 20 of the embodiment 3 will be described.

First, the visual field computing unit 123 acquires the line-of-sightdirection and the eye position of the driver from the line-of-sightacquiring unit 101 (step ST51). Next, it acquires the vehicle modelinformation about the self vehicle from the vehicle model informationacquiring unit 102 (step ST52). Furthermore, it acquires the vehicle IDfrom the vehicle ID acquiring unit 201 (step ST53).

Then, referring to the visual field table that relates the vehicle modelwith the line-of-sight directions as shown in FIG. 2, for example, thevisual field computing unit 123 calculates the visual field of thedriver (step ST54).

For example, if the vehicle model information about the self vehicleacquired at step ST2 is the vehicle model A1 of the manufacturer A andthe line-of-sight direction acquired at step ST1 is the rearview mirror,the visual field computing unit 123 can calculate the current visualfield as “α1” with reference to the visual field table shown in FIG. 2.

The visual field calculated in this way is output to the communicationunit 125 (step ST55).

Next, referring to the flowchart shown in FIG. 21, the operation of thedeciding unit 127 in the surrounding area monitoring apparatus 20 of theembodiment 3 will be described.

First, the deciding unit 127 checks whether or not it is able to receivethe information about another vehicle from the communication unit 125via the intervehicle communication. Then, if it is able to receive theinformation about new another vehicle, that is, if there is any newreceived data (step ST61), it records the visual field it receives (stepST62).

Then, the deciding unit 127 checks whether the vehicle ID of the anothervehicle received is a registered ID or not (step ST63). If it is theregistered ID (YES at step ST63), the deciding unit 127 acquires thevisual field it receives within the predetermined specified time (T1)previous to the present (within the past specified time (T1)) (stepST64), and combines the visual field it receives at step ST61 with thepast visual field it acquires at step ST64 (step ST65).

On the other hand, unless it is the registered vehicle ID at step ST63(NO at step ST63), the deciding unit 127 registers the vehicle ID (stepST66).

Incidentally, as for the processing at the next steps ST67-ST75, sinceit is the same as the processing of steps ST32-ST40 in the flowchart ofFIG. 13 in the embodiment 2, its description will be omitted.

Thus combining the visual fields at the receiving side and setting thepast specified time (T1) at any given value will make it possible tocombine the dynamic visual field ranges for each vehicle at any giventime unit. This enables carrying out more appropriate guidance inaccordance with traffic congestion and road conditions, and vehicleconditions such as the speed of a vehicle.

As described above, according to the present embodiment 3, it not onlyinforms that the self vehicle is outside the visual field of thesurrounding vehicles, but also gives information that will guide thevehicle into the dynamic visual field range. This offers an advantage ofbeing able to aid the driver to carry out more safe driving in additionto the advantages of the embodiment 1.

Incidentally, although the embodiment 3 described above comprises thevehicle ID acquiring unit 201 in addition to the configuration of theembodiment 2 and alters the processing of the visual field computingunit and deciding unit, it goes without saying that the embodiment 3 cancomprise the vehicle ID acquiring unit 201 in addition to theconfiguration of the embodiment 1, and execute the processing of theembodiment 3 described above.

Incidentally, it is to be understood that a free combination of theindividual embodiments, variations of any components of the individualembodiments or removal of any components of the individual embodimentsis possible within the scope of the present invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

A surrounding area monitoring apparatus in accordance with the presentinvention is applicable to any equipment such as onboard equipment likea car navigation system and dashboard, which is mounted on a vehiclelike a car, and is connected to a notification device such as a voiceoutput device and display device. In addition, the surrounding areamonitoring apparatus itself can be built into these devices.Furthermore, it can be used in applications installed into a mobile dataterminal such as a smartphone, tablet PC and cellular phone.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

1, 10, 20 surrounding area monitoring apparatus; 2 in-vehicle camera; 3GPS; 4 intervehicle communication antenna; 5 HMI; 101 line-of-sightacquiring unit; 102 vehicle model information acquiring unit; 103, 123visual field computing unit; 104 vehicle position acquiring unit; 105,125 communication unit; 107, 117, 127 deciding unit; 108, 118notification controller; 201 vehicle ID acquiring unit.

What is claimed is:
 1. A surrounding area monitoring apparatuscomprising: a microcomputer comprising: a vehicle position acquirer toacquire positional information of a first vehicle; a communicator toreceive positional information of at least one second vehicle and visualfield range information of the at least one second vehicle; a decider todecide whether the first vehicle is outside a visual field range of theat least one second vehicle or not, based on the acquired positionalinformation of the first vehicle, the positional information of the atleast one second vehicle, and the visual field range of the at least onesecond vehicle; and a notification controller to provide an advisory orwarning to a driver of the first vehicle when the decider decides thatthe first vehicle is outside the visual field range of the at least onesecond vehicle.
 2. The surrounding area monitoring apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein the notification controller instructs a notificationdevice to output notification information when the decider decides thatthe first vehicle is outside the visual field range of the at least onesecond vehicle.
 3. The surrounding area monitoring apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein the notification controller instructs thenotification device to output the notification information for guidingthe first vehicle into a dynamic visual field range of the driver of theat least one second vehicle when the decider decides that the firstvehicle is outside the dynamic visual field range of the driver of theat least one second vehicle.
 4. A surrounding area monitoring methodcomprising: acquiring, by a vehicle position acquirer, positionalinformation of a first vehicle; receiving, by a communicator, positionalinformation of at least one second vehicle and visual field rangeinformation of the at least one second vehicle; deciding, by a decider,whether the first vehicle is outside a visual field range of the atleast one second vehicle or not, based on the acquired positionalinformation of the first vehicle, the positional information of the atleast one second vehicle, and the visual field range of the at least onesecond vehicle; and providing, by a notification controller, an advisoryor warning to a driver of the first vehicle when the decider decidesthat the first vehicle is outside the visual field range of the at leastone second vehicle.